I extend my deepest sympathies to his family and friends.
The tragic news hit the airways with tremendous force when one of the all time greats passed on. I couldn’t believe it when the first of a few text messages came. I had to turn to MTV & CNN before it really hit me. The musical genius that is MJ will never be forgotten. Michael Jackson was loved, appreciated, admired & cherished by so many no matter what the issues were in his life. No matter how you feel about the man, he will be missed by millions. It is true that if you were born after 1970, you had no choice but to have heard of Michael Jackson.
Here are a couple of the many videos that left an indelible impression on me from over the years.
Kobe Bryant or Lebron James
The basketball nation has gone deep into conversation about this very topic. It has been a long time since we’ve been able to have a lively and close debate about the NBA elite. Everyone remembers Bird vs. Magic, Russell vs. Chamberlin, Jordon vs. well….Retirement (hahaha). This new debate lives up to that kind of billing even though, we can only hope and pray that it will last at least another 5 years or so.
With the NBA Playoffs in full swing, the big question is who do you want? Kobe or Lebron? Please vote on my poll below and then leave comment explaining why you believe in your decision. Show me some passion.
P.S. I will amend and/or delete comments that have profanity.
Happy Memorial Day
Quite frankly, I’m hooked on this beat right now even though it was featured all the way back in 2004. If you want to know what I am experiencing in the whip right now, this is it:
Rashaan Patterson
Big up to RP, Rashaan Patterson, for blessing the world with such awesome renditions of soulful music. This is one of many. Also, thanks to The Infinite Ink for bringing this song back to my soulful consciousness and being soulrific.
JL, this one is for you…I hope you like it.
So, I went through the experience that many can attest to: Pulling the wisdom teeth
I’m not sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing, but I decided to go ahead and have all four pulled at the same time. Since I made that choice to go for broke, I also had them put me to sleep as to avoid any confusion as to who was operating on whom in the operating room, if you know what I mean. Hey, a brotha can get a little testy.
So a few hours later, I wake up and this was the end result at first.
After pulling my wisdom teeth
Yes, it’s quite alright to laugh at me. Doesn’t it look like I somehow got into a fight with the oral surgeon and lost? I have no idea what I mumbled to the guy, but obviously he took offense and showed me who was boss in his office. Maybe I made fun of the plant in the lobby area? I’m not sure, but I didn’t mean it doc. (joking of course)
In all honesty, the procedure was very smooth and seamless. I would recommend him for the procedure without question. Still, it took me a while to gain my bearings and I had to sleep for a good while after the surgery. I was truly out of commission for about 2 days, but the pain was very minimal considering. After a bit of bleeding, things have now really settled down. I only have irritation on my gum line which was to be expected.
If anyone has to go through with it, just remember to be humble and make sure that you don’t hear the word impacted. If you do, then there may be cause for nervousness. In my case, my teeth were not impacted and I think that was why I had a pretty good time of it. However, I will say that I wouldn’t do it again. =)
This is a really short post. I have a lot of homework to do.
So I am officially back and doing my gym thing. FINALLY!!!! After how many years of not being consistent?? 1…2…3…4….it doesn’t matter…it’s just way too long.
I’m at a place called Planet Fitness. They have great amenities, great equipment, long hours, and the contract is just right. Oh, did I mention that there is no commitment required. This doesn’t mean that I am a guy who doesn’t like commitment. I am all about commitment, but the gym is a little bit different. I’m truly back on track and had a very effective first evening workout.
The other great thing about Planet Fitness is that they have tons of locations all over the country and they are very adamant about not being a stereotypical gym. They call it the judgment free zone. Everyone is just about getting their workout on and then being on their way. No intimidation. The environment that they foster is quite nice for folks who aren’t your gym heads.
I have decided to take a look at ING Direct in the USA as a great example of a direct banking entity that has leveraged the electronic banking environment to gain a strong foothold in the US financial services industry.
ING Group is a global bank that started in the Netherlands and has grown tremendously since it’s inception in 1990 as a dominant player in the world direct banking industry. More specifically, ING Direct USA started in 2000 and is a subsidiary of the parent company ING Group.
What has distinguished ING Direct from the traditional banking model is their use of the online platform made by a strategic partner called e-Profile to deliver tremendous value to its customers. Although, it would seem that I am advocating against my own job due to the online platform, there is still a need for the physical branch banking model which has a footprint in the local community. Using both direct banks (a.k.a. online bank) and a credit union/traditional bank together adds value to the overall financial relationship. ING does not offer physical branches to reduce their overhead costs tremendously. Instead, they operate through major call center and back office functions scattered around the country and even in the homes of some employees to deliver the phone banking needs of its customers. The online banking platform is extremely functional and easy to use.
Some key critical success factors for ING Direct are:
- Strategic Relationships/Securing Key Suppliers
Partnering with e-Profile, they are able to receive great value because this supplier provides most of the solutions to the online needs of ING Direct. E-Profile is considered a vertical service provider accounting to an article I saw online: Click here to read
This strategic relationship helps ING control the cost of operations which then allow them to deliver value to their customers.
- Promotion/Marketing
With the additional income from the cost cutting initiatives, ING has a heavy focus in the area of promotion and marketing. The way that this is done is by advertising their brand effectively which is a simple Orange ball that provides guidance in the transition from the old way of banking to the familiar online banking systems and electronic processing we have now grown accustomed. In addition, there are internet cafes that promote the branch in major metropolitan areas like New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Chicago to reach large segments of their target markets. This is also a departure from the old marketing models which would suggest that a larger physical presence is needed in order to be successful with branding. However, ING has decided that using the web as the primary tool through their affiliate programs and other web-based tools is more effective and also helps with cost. There is also a heavy investment in providing education tools for their entire product line and about personal finance in general. Finally, there is an online store that sells ING Direct merchandise which helps build brand loyalty and word of mouth promotion.
- Product Design/Price
As for product design and pricing, this is where ING Direct is able to realize their revenues. ING Direct has a high yield online savings account, a no-fee and no minimum balance checking account with automatic overdraft protection at a competitive interest rate, mortgage loans, certificates of deposit, business savings & checking, and investment/retirement accounts. At this time, they do not provide auto loans or credit cards due to their risk assesments. For this reason, the relationship to a local bank or credit union is still somewhat symbiotic due to reduced loan product offerings of ING Direct. As such, the overall cost of their customer relationships are minimal when compared to most banks and this is where folks like myself enjoy the financial relationship the most. Having minimal fees and a great product line in the banking industry is the preferred way to go in order to assets grow into the billions in less than 20 years and ING has been able to succeed.
One major drawback to ING Direct is successfully reaching customers who are uncomfortable with a totally online financial relationship and the ability to make deposits that are not in electronic form. ING Direct attempts to get around these obstacles by making it easy to link your regular bank account to their online savings or checking account. In this sense, you can make a deposit in your physical bank and then transfer the funds online to a normally higher interest bearing account online. The other issue that ING Direct faces is that of internet security, fraud monitoring, and viruses. It may not be a total disadvantage to only have an online banking platform in this case because regular banks have to allocate heavy investments into protecting electronic data as well. The difference is that ING Direct may have lower insurance costs because they do not have branches that could potentially get robbed. Instead, that cost is past along to vendors who have ATM machines and ING Direct has forged relationships with the Allpoint network to provide no fee ATM withdraw capabilities with a debit MasterCard for those who have their checking account.
I am started to realize that economics is in my blood. My dad is to blame or to be thanked depending on your affinity towards the subject matter…Here is my post and this time you didn’t have to wait 3 months.
So I finally did my taxes with the assistance of one of my mentors and dearest family friends. Yes, I know. I cut it really close and I should have done this weeks if not months ago. From my point of view, I’m just happy that I comfortably beat the cut off time for e-filing the federal and mailing in my extremely modest NJ state return. When I say modest, I do mean modest. I’m not complaining though. If you make out with $1 from NJ in a return, this is cause for celebration.
Anyways, back to the point of this post. Some time last week, as I took my time driving home from the Princeton area, I was listening to my girl on NPR’s Radio Times in Philadelphia, Marty Moss Coane. I always find her broadcasts engaging and informative. On this particular day, she had an economist – Robert H. Frank – on her program who was making the case for a progressive consumption tax instead of our traditional progressive income tax that we are all accustomed or allergic to right now. I thought it was poignant that this was discussed at the same time that I was filing my tax returns in one of the most expensive states in the union. The essence of the argument can be found here in PDF format. This was a column posted in the New York Times in November 2008. Although, I won’t be getting into the details of the discussions, I just had to share the story behind how I even heard about this guy. After reading up more about him, the book below seems like a good purchase.
Robert H Frank
Robert Frank discusses all kinds of topics that many people would never think that economics could answer. It just might be true what they say. Economics can usually answer just about any question about human behavior. Here are a few questions for you to ponder.
- Why does a $500 tuxedo rent for $90 a day while a $20,000 car rents for only $40?
- Why do female models earn so much more than male models?
- Why might retailers deliberately hammer dents into their own appliances?
- Why do the keypad buttons of drive-up cash machines have Braille dots?
- Why are child safety seats required in cars but not in airplanes?
- Why are whales, but not chickens, in danger of extinction?
- Why is there a light in your refrigerator but not in your freezer?
- Why do 24-hour convenience stores have locks on their doors?
- Why are newspapers, but not soft drinks, sold in vending machines that allow customers to take more units than they paid for?
- Why are brown eggs more expensive than white ones, even though the two types taste the same and have identical nutritional value?
Try and answer these questions with your intuition and post your thoughts in the comment section. I am interested to find out how you wrestle with these questions.
Frank answers these questions and many more in his book. If you’re interested, visit his website for more information.
Please note that some of the information provided was directly taken from the website of Robert H. Frank and is by no means my own words.
I’ve been brought out of semi-retirement it seems with such infrequent posts. I apologize for that y’all. But nonetheless, it’s March Madness time. It’s time to dust off your bracketology degree and make your selections.
Enjoy the games. It started today on local CBS station. Hopefully, you’ve done your brackets already: at work, at home, on facebook, on your pda phone, or just printed out the old fashion paper and select your teams.
You’ve heard the phrase that a picture can speak a 1,000 words or something to that effect. I could not pass up the chance to share this particular comic strip.
Elementary School Kids
